Career Explorer Arts, media and sport
Human edge, growing
Umpires, referees, and other sports officials
Officiate at competitive athletic or sporting events. Detect infractions of rules and decide penalties according to established regulations. Includes all sporting officials, referees, and competition judges.
More resilient than most: more resilient than 72% of the 831 careers we score. AI exposure is low (the Bureau of Labor Statistics rates it moderate), and US jobs are projected to change by +5.2% by 2035, faster than average.
AI struggles with much of this work, and US employers are expected to hire more people into it than average.
- Median pay (2025)
- $40,710
- Job growth to 2035
- +5.2%
- Openings a year
- 4,300
- People doing it (2025)
- 18,200
- Usual route in
- High school diploma, then moderate on-the-job training
Where people already use AI for this work
- Coach others
- Evaluate the quality or accuracy of data
- Compile records, documentation, or other data
From Microsoft Research, Working with AI (2025).
Work AI rarely helps with
- Coordinate artistic or entertainment activities
- Inspect facilities or equipment
- Evaluate personnel capabilities or performance
What the work looks like
- Officiate at sporting events, games, or competitions, to maintain standards of play and to ensure that game rules are observed.
- Judge performances in sporting competitions to award points, impose scoring penalties, and determine results.
- Inspect game sites for compliance with regulations or safety requirements.
- Resolve claims of rule infractions or complaints by participants and assess any necessary penalties, according to regulations.
- Verify scoring calculations before competition winners are announced.
From O*NET 31.0, US Department of Labor.
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Also known as: Horse Show Judge, Major League Baseball Umpire (MLB Umpire), Referee, Sports Official, Basketball Referee, Diving Judge, Dressage Judge, Football Referee.
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Sources: US Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections 2025 to 2035; O*NET 31.0; Microsoft Research (2025); Anthropic Economic Index (2026); Eloundou and colleagues (Science, 2024); Felten, Raj and Seamans (2023). How we score. Updated 12 October 2026.